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KB-000382: How do I add narration and/or sounds to my PowerPoint 2007 presentation?

There are several ways to add narration to your PowerPoint presentation. However, we suggest one of the following four methods which are supported by Impatica for PowerPoint, and can be found in the User's Manual. Here is a brief explanation of the four recommended methods of adding narration or other sounds to your PowerPoint 2007 presentation.

A. You can record your narration directly into PowerPoint. From the "Slide Show" tab, select "Record Narration". This will play your presentation as a slide show and let you record the narration as it plays.

You should specify the slide advance to occur "On mouse click" so that you can synchronize the slide advance timings to your narration. PowerPoint will then remember the slide advance timings and apply them to future playback. In addition, you should leave your animation timings on mouse-click advance as well.

The "Record Narration" process will allow you to set the timings for your animations as well.

B. You can also pre-record your narration independently from your PowerPoint presentation. This is often the most convenient approach to including narration, especially if you are using a professional recording studio. It is easiest if you record the narration for each slide as a separate .wav file.

Open your PowerPoint presentation and, for each slide, go to the "Animations" tab, and select "Other Sound" from the "Transition Sound" drop down box.

Then select the appropriate .wav file to insert.

C. Using your prerecorded narration, you can insert the .wav file by first going to the "Insert" tab, and then choosing the "Sound from File" option from the "Sound" icon.

Selecting this option will prompt you to navigate to your prerecorded sound file to insert your .wav file directly into your PowerPoint slide.

D. Using your prerecorded narration or sound file, you can insert a sound on animation. On virtually any animation that can be added to your PowerPoint presentation, you have the option of adding a sound effect to the animation. From the "Custom Animation" panel, highlight the object in the list of objects for that slide and select the "Effect Options" entry from the drop down window.

From the window that opens here, chose the "Effects" tab, and in the "Sound" drop down box chose "Other Sound".

Selecting this option will allow you to navigate to your prerecorded sound and add it to the animation effect.